A Tear Between Worlds
by ookami-metsuki
Summary: A haunting voice brings realization to Sirius, things are not what they seem. Harry Potter is a boy destined to die if things aren't changed. A step through the veil, and the 'Verse opens up before them, & a debt to the mysterious woman who saved them...


Disclaimer: I don't own rights to either Harry's World nor River's, but I have a shiny artistic license and a nifty fanfic site that allows me to use it.

Prologue: A Change of Sequence

_Not a Dream_

_Sirius woke, and knew he wasn't dreaming. He stood in the shadows of a familiar office, and amongst the fascinating gadgets and gizmos, a place that had always, without fail, made him feel warm, safe, and amused, the darkness of foreboding hovered near. The stairs ground, the harsh jut of stone against stone, and the door opened. Albus swept in, and- _

_** Sweet Merlin, **_**Harry.**_Sirius stared aghast at his godson, dirty and bruised and bleeding. And the expression on his face... he looked so damn lost. He couldn't tear his eyes away, even when the headmaster started to talk. He listened in disbelief as his own death was summarily described, and Dumbledore fed the boy a sob story about making the wrong choices- how he was responsible for Sirius' death, how Harry wouldn't have fallen for the trick if he had trusted him a little more. He saw the boy break just before the rage came welling up and he destroyed the better half of Dumbledore's office. Sirius stared. A boy no more than fifteen and at the height of exhaustion had just broken through two dozen wards and countless protection charms and _obliterated_ some of Dumbledore's prize objects. That took a fucking lot of power. He looked at Dumbledore, and didn't understand the look of cunning pleasure on his face, as if he'd just achieved something he found difficult. _

And, with a start, he was awake. _Not a dream. _He knew it, and as he processed it, he started to pick up the details as he went along. And another memory slammed into him.

_"I've failed them, Sirius." _

_ Sirius looked up from the sleeping boy into the face of his oldtime headmaster. "Sir?"_

_ "I never should have made the decision to place him with his relatives. They've starved him, of both nutrients and affection- and I think its locked Harry's magic away. He's nowhere near as powerful as he should be- and its my fault." _

_ "Get him out of there, Albus. Its not too late, the damage can be repaired- he doesn't deserve that treatment." _

_ But the man sighed, defeated. "It is too late. Its the only place he's safe, Sirius. The blood protection. You know what the Death Eaters will do to him. You _know_." _

And he did. If Voldemort's followers ever caught Harry, the boy would be torn apart, mind, body and soul. But he was already being torn apart. Sirius knew that then just as strongly as he knew it now- but he hadn't given it thought between then- towards the end of third year- and now. Why had he not given it thought?

_ **Cloth thrown over the eyes. Children listen but do not think. Follow blindly, little dog, be a good puppy. No, be bad. Lift the veil. The twinkling liar covers his tracks, but he lies all the same. Look. Listen. **_**Question**_**. It is not what it seems. You saw truth and future, it was no dream. Now see another.**_

_Spells flashed back and forth, and Sirius danced between them, feeling euphoric and invinsible. So long since he'd been out of that blasted house, and now... He locked wands with Bellatrix, taunted her, pushed her buttons. He knew better than anyone how to do it. The last spell he knew he couldn't dodge- but it was just a stunner. He would wake again... and he did. But he was no longer in a dark room in the midst of a wizard's battle. The world was bright and hot and dry, and there were monsters there. _

The vision froze, and backed up rapidly, until he, watching himself, looked from a different angle as he began to taunt his cousin. _**Pay attention**_, the voice whispered. _**You need to know this, because this is where you and the pup escape Destiny. This is crucial. You separate here, and both of you die- but together...**_ The archway stood in the center of the room, foreboding, ominous. It commanded the room, it and the mysterious breeze that fluttered the veil between. _**A tear, a whole. Another world. The pup fights the demon, and wins, but the twinkling liar doesn't want a live hero- he wants a martyr for the cause. His cause. The final battle takes place here- you will be his right arm, if you trust him to do as he's fated. You'll be with him. The snake will fall, and the liar will turn- get him out. The veil is your escape. Get him out. **_

"Who are you?" Sirius whispered.

_** These secrets aren't mine, they're not mine. They're from another and they hurt, hurt so bad. I'm stuck and I can't get out, but the brother's coming. Simon will help. You're the brother, and the pup is me. He's stuck, and he can't get out- you're the only one to help. Simon.**_ The voice trailed off into a whimper. _**They're hurting us. Get us out. **_

And, just like that, she was gone. Sirius sat down, tiredly rubbing his temples. He believed it. All of it. Why, he wasn't sure. Well, he was. The situation with the TriWizard tournament shouldn't have happened. If Dumbledore was truly doing his duty by the boy, he would have gotten him out- and Sirius should have been more upset about the whole damn thing then he had been when it was happening. Ulterior motives. He knew Dumbledore had them- always had. He walked a different path for his own reasons, and Sirius had always, silently wondered at them. He had an ideal, and powerful people with ideals were dangerous ones, no matter which color they wore. They blinded themselves to everything but the bigger picture, and the individuals suffered the most. Why hadn't he been more wary of the headmaster? Why hadn't he questioned Harry's placement with his relatives more? There were hundreds of ways to keep the boy safe. Keep him at Hogwarts. Disguise him, take the tracer off his wand. Train him to stand on his own. No, there was no excuse for that negligence- and it ended now.

"Harry, you've been someplace you shouldn't for far too long. Its time to get out."

_**Train the pup, 'fore he pees the carpet. Get out of the bughouse, don't belong there. Time to get out. **_

Harry fought, he bled, he struggled. He was so evenly matched with the monster before him, it was so damn close. He knew his godfather was nearby, fighting too, not convinced that a child was born to take the Wizarding World's weight as his own. _Thanks for that, Sirius. Thanks for showing me its not my responsibility to fight for those who won't fight for themselves, but for those who do, and those who can't. Thanks for taking my side of this thrice forsaken war. Merlin knows you're the only one. _

"You die today, Potter."

The boy, seventeen to the day, smiled as sweet as he could through the caked blood and muck on his face, and fluttered his lashes. "You're such a flatterer, Tom- I bet you say that to all the pretty boys."

"Don't know if he does." He heard his godfather call out. "But he sure says it a lot to you. Get's old after a while."

"You'd think," Harry dodged a particularly vicious curse. "That with all the time that's passed, the man would deliver." He heard Sirius' bark of laughter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius' victim fall, and caught the apparation of Albus Dumbledore. Sirius turned to aide his godson, but Albus reached out a restraining hand.

"Sirius, the prophecy."

"Albus, fuck the prophecy." Sirius snapped, and pulled free. He turned and began to circle Voldemort, counterclockwise to Harry's clockwise. They paced around the man, fending off spells and attacking with spells of their own, each probing for a weakness. Dumbledore stood back, waiting for Fate's hand to fall.

"Can't take me alone, Potter?" Voldemort sneered as he taunted the boy.

"Should I be able to?" Harry queried. "I'm a seventeen year old man-child- I'm supposed to be a match for the most feared Dark Lord of the ages? What nut-job thought that one up? What kind of nut-job are you to believe it?"

"You had plans, Riddle." Sirius took up the bait now, shaking it vigorously. "Large, impressive-type plans that you were going to bring to us, revolutionize our world. You put on hold for a boy. Not so very impressive."

"But I _am_ strong enough to take you on, and survive it, countless times. I kicked you're wrinkly ass as a babe, and again as an eleven year old, and again, and again. I didn't come out on top for all of it, but I _lived_. This time, you won't. I'm sure of that." Harry leaped forward, vigorously attacking where before he had been passively defending. He was as tuned as he could be to the man's actions, focused entirely on him.

_**They mess with the Right, play with the World, and think they can make it better. They're wrong, and it costs. Price has come to collect, its time to die. **_The voice, one he'd heard only a time or two before, came seconds before a surge of energy Harry had never encountered. Instinctively he grabbed hold and pushed it out with his own. Light, brighter than he could imagine, burst forth, enveloping the Dark Lord and vanquishing him before he could scream. The light flared, and, with a thunderous _boom_, disappeared. The dark lord was ashes and bones, and there was _nothing_ left but that. Dumbledore started to turn, and Harry darted forward in time with his godfather. They dove for the veil as the Killing Curse flashed from Dumbledore's wand, striking a brilliant green flare where Harry had been standing.

They landed hard on hot, gritty sand and jagged ground, blinking back tears from the fierce and sudden light. Panting, they looked around. A desert landscape expanded in all directions, heat making waves on the ground. They had made it- it was over.


End file.
